All posts tagged obituaries

Leonard M. Rosen, a founder of New York law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.

Leonard M. Rosen, a founding partner of elite New York law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, has died.

The influential bankruptcy lawyer passed away on Wednesday, April 16, at the age of 83 years, according to the firm. A consensus-builder, he helped pull New York City back from the brink of fiscal collapse in the 1970s and, during the 1980s government bailout of Chrysler Corp., forged an agreement between the company and its creditors that allowed the cash-strapped automaker to survive. Read More »

Mr. Strauss, who grew up in a small, ranching town in west-central Texas, graduated from University of Texas Law School in 1941 and, after a stint at the FBI, opened a two-man law firm in Dallas. Gump and Strauss would grow into a legal and lobbying powerhouse with 15 offices in the U.S. and abroad. Read More »

Environmental lawyer David Sive, who won landmark rulings that stopped developments in coastal waters and helped keep parts of the Catskills and Adirondacks wild, died Wednesday. He was 91.

Mr. Sive was a co-founder in 1962 of what is today Sive, Paget & Riesel P.C., a leading environmental law firm.

Starting in the 1960s, Mr. Sive was a key member of the legal team that blocked construction of a power plant at Storm King Mountain along the Hudson River. The case helped establish that aesthetics rather than direct economic damage could establish standing to bring an environmental lawsuit. Read More »

Judge Robert Bork, shown in 1987, was the subject of a partisan fight over his nomination to the Supreme Court.

The death of former Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork drew plenty of attention, but not from most of those with whom he would have served.

Seven of the nine current justices didn’t issue public statements after Mr. Bork’s death was announced Wednesday morning. The two who did—Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg—both served with Mr. Bork on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Also not commenting was Solicitor . . . . . Read More »

FILE – In this Sept. 15, 1987 file photo, Judge Robert Bork, nominated by President Reagan to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court, is sworn before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill at his confirmation hearing. Robert Bork, whose failed Supreme Court nomination made history, has died. (AP Photo/John Duricka)

Robert Bork, the famed judge who will likely always be remembered first for the bruising 1987 confirmation battle over his Supreme Court nomination, died early Wednesday. He was 85. The cause was heart complications.

By the time Judge Bork’s name became nationally known, after President Ronald Reagan nominated him to replace Justice Lewis Powell in the summer of ’87, Mr. Bork had already created quite a resume. He had served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for five years. Under President Richard Nixon, he had served as Solicitor General for over three years.

Soon after his nomination failed in the fall of 1987. . . . . Read More »

John was the 7th leader of LDF, the nation’s first and preeminent civil rights law firm. During his tenure he guided the organization to resounding legal victories, including Lewis v. City of Chicago, which vindicated the rights of over 6,000 applicants who sought to become firefighters in the City of Chicago, and Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District v. Holder, which turned back a challenge to the. . . Read More »

George C. Seward, a longtime partner at the New York law firm Seward & Kissel who founded the International Bar Association in its modern form, died Wednesday at his home in Scarsdale, the firm said. He was 101.

Seward, a business lawyer, was a partner at Seward & Kissel (then Meyer, Kidder, Matz & Kissel) from 1953 to 1983 and is credited with building the firm’s client base in the banking, shipping and private investment and hedge fund industries. He continued working at the firm as senior counsel, coming in three or four days a week through the end of 2011. . . Read More »

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The Law Blog covers the legal arena’s hot cases, emerging trends and big personalities. It’s brought to you by lead writer Jacob Gershman with contributions from across The Wall Street Journal’s staff. Jacob comes here after more than half a decade covering the bare-knuckle politics of New York State. His inside-the-room reporting left him steeped in legal and regulatory issues that continue to grab headlines.

A federal judge in Manhattan rejected a bid by the conservative advocacy group Citizens United to stop New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman from requiring that charities disclose to him their major donors.

Concerns about a gender gap in the legal profession tend to focus on issues like pay, billing rates and who makes partner. A new study by the American Bar Association looks inside the federal courtroom to see who's trying cases.